


Stages of Grief

by bluesey182



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: F/M, Gen, cardan being angsty and missing jude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 08:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20288710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesey182/pseuds/bluesey182
Summary: tumblr prompt (you can follow me @bluesey-182 if you'd like) where madoc realizes it'll be easy to convince cardan to get jude back from the undersea bc cardan is in loooove. takes place during the wicked king





	Stages of Grief

When news of the kidnapped seneschal reached the party, the guests played out a perfect portrait of chaos. The bereaved twin collapsed into her lovers arms in a fit of tears while her beloved looked on with an empty face and eyes alight with barely contained gruesome excitement–the kind of excitement one wears when watching a house that is not one’s own burn to the ground. Vivi, ever the older sister, was a pillar of fire sparked from rage. She screamed at her father, the King, anyone at all to find her sister and to find her _now_. The youngest brother cried in his mother’s arms–more from confusion than actual grief. Madoc himself felt a spark of rage light inside him. Despite himself, despite the claim he made that Jude was now his enemy, he felt the anger of a protective father.

Cardan kept perfectly still. He did not flinch. He did not speak. Madoc wasn’t even entirely sure the boy was breathing.

Until he reached for a bottle.

To all outside appearances, Cardan seemed to not care. No, more than that–the King continued on as if he hadn’t heard the message brought to them. His carefully portrayed stoicism was betrayed, however, by the fire burning in his eyes and the copious amounts of alcohol he proceeded to consume.

He drank until he couldn’t stand. He drank until he laughed at nothing. He drank until he forgot her name.

_Denial_.

An emergency meeting was called. Through it, Madoc watched as the High King of Elfhame largely tuned out everything that was said by his elders. At the mention of his elder brother, who also went missing in the attack, Cardan simply laughed without humor and drank from his bottle of wine–never mind the fact that he was clearly more than drunk enough already. At the mention of a possible war between them and the Undersea, the King tensed ever so slightly before waving the discussion away with his ring-laden hand.

But when the missing seneschal was brought up and an elder simply said, “What’s one dead human?” The King smashed his bottle of wine over the elders head before leaving without a word.

For days to come reports reached Madoc of the King’s restless state. Guards reported the sounds of destruction coming from Cardan’s rooms during the hours he should have been sleeping. Palace staff talked of the messes they later had to clean up from the King’s rooms once he had either passed out from drinking or left his chambers for any kingly duties he finally subjected himself worthy of. In the court he was of short-patience and snapped more than usual at any who dared upset him. And if his seneschal was mentioned by name, the speaker of it was thrown from the revel or meeting.

More than once, Madoc caught Cardan tossing a casual glance over his shoulder as if to speak to someone beside him–only to find the usually occupied space empty. When this happened, Cardan would find someone nearby to verbally take his wrath out on. The kingdom was tense, the parties stopped, and the King became something to fear.

_Anger_.

For the first week, Madoc dismissed the King’s behavior as that of a spoiled boy forced to rule on his own for the first time.

By the second week, when one of his spies working as a maid for the High King reported that the King was found passed out drunk in the seneschals rooms, Madoc realized the truth of the situation. He began to realize that, perhaps, Jude had more power over the King of Elfhame than even she realized. He realized that, perhaps, the King had fallen for a mortal.

And she had been taken from him.

As the days continued the dark circles under Cardan’s eyes continued to deepen. In meetings he threw out verbal assaults at anyone with any amount of power that they should not have let the seneschal go to the Tower alone. They should have followed her, protected her–and though he blamed everyone else for Jude’s fate, Madoc could see he was punishing himself for it more than anyone else.

_Bargaining_.

When the King stopped leaving his rooms altogether, Madoc began to plot.

For almost a whole week, Cardan would not see anyone. He allowed food to be dropped off at his door a few times a day, but no one was allowed to enter and he never exited. The King had fallen ill, but not with any physical affliction.

_Depression_.

Madoc found himself at a few conclusions: The only way he could get control over Cardan was to have Jude back where the King could see his beloved mortal safe. Cardan was feral and untamed and he needed to be given what he so desperately wanted–Jude. But the only way to have power over Jude was to keep her away from Cardan.

If Jude were back on land, and Madoc insisted on keeping her in his estate to recover, then he would have power over both rulers of Elfhame. The King would calm down (as much as was possible with Cardan) and Jude would be back under Madoc’s thumb. With enough time and patience, Madoc could take control.

At the end of Cardan’s week of isolation he emerged changed. For the first time, Madoc saw the makings of an actual king in him. Cardan did his duties, listened in meetings, carried himself with the air of a true born monarch–and Madoc began to see his plans unravel. The King carried on as if he was still receiving orders on what to do from his seneschal. But worse–he was doing it on his own accord.

_Acceptance_.

If Madoc did not act soon, Cardan would no longer be so easy to get off the throne.

It was because of this that Madoc found himself outside the King’s chambers one night after the first revel in nearly two weeks. At his knock, Cardan swung the door open to reveal his disarrayed and slightly intoxicated state. Madoc took in the boys mostly clear eyes rimmed with the red of barely contained grief, his half buttoned shirt and bare feet, and the general smiled to himself. Buried under his facade of control, Cardan was still crumbling.

“I know how we can get her back,” Madoc purred, dangling exactly what Cardan wanted inches from his grasp.

To his credit, Cardan’s bloodshot eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion. Afterall, he had no real reason to trust Madoc–Madoc just had to hope that his desperation to have Jude back would outweigh his mistrust for the general.

It worked.

Without a word, Cardan stepped aside, holding the door open in invitation.


End file.
